Luke Kennard Named Second-Team All-American by Sporting News

Sophomore guard Luke Kennard officially became the 31st Duke player to earn All-America honors under head coach Mike Krzyzewski on Monday when he was named a second-team selection by the Sporting News.

The Sporting News All-America team is one of four used to determine consensus All-America honors (also AP, NABC and USBWA).

Kennard’s selection is the 45th total honor among the All-Americans to play at Duke under Coach K. Krzyzewski has coached at least one All-American in 29 of his 37 seasons at Duke.

Duke has had at least one All-American in each of the last 10 seasons, dating to 2008. Kennard is Duke’s 10th All-American this decade and its 20th since 2000 (26 total honors).

As a program, Duke has now had 43 players combine to earn a total of 67 All-America honors.

Kennard leads Duke in scoring with an average of 20.1 points per game while shooting .504 from the floor, .450 from outside the arc and .847 from the free throw line. He is one of two players nationally – and the only major-conference player – to average at least 20.0 points while shooting at least .500 from the floor, .400 from outside the arc and .800 from the line.

The Franklin, Ohio, native has scored in double figures in 30 of Duke’s 31 games this season, eclipsing the 20-point mark a team-high 16 times. He leads the ACC in scoring and ranks second in three-point field goal percentage while averaging the third-most minutes per game (35.6) in the ACC. He is the only ACC guard shooting above .500 from the floor this season (min. 5FG/game).

He has made at least one three-point field goal in 34 consecutive games, tied for the fourth-longest streak in Duke history and the 16th-longest stretch in ACC history.

Kennard eclipsed the 1,000-point mark for his career on Feb. 25 at Miami, becoming just the 12th Duke player (and fifth under Mike Krzyzewski) to hit that milestone prior to the end of his second season. He has an opportunity to become the fifth Duke player – and first since Christian Laettner in 1992 – to average at least 20.0 points while shooting at least 50 percent from the field.

For his career, Kennard owns averages of 15.6 points, 4.4 rebounds and 2.0 assists in 30.8 minutes. He is a career .466 shooter from the floor and .384 from three-point range. Kennard’s .863 career free throw percentage is currently the second-best in Duke history (min. 200 FTs made).

He has scored at least 20 points in more than one-third (23-of-67) of his games in a Duke uniform.

Kennard was the only unanimous choice for first-team All-ACC honors this season, and was also named a member of the national ballot for the John R. Wooden Award and a semifinalist for the Naismith Trophy.